William Rolleston

Infobox_Officeholder
name=Hon. William Rolleston


order=3rd Leader of the Opposition
term_start=31 August 1891
term_end=8 November 1893
predecessor=John Bryce
successor=William Russell
birth_date=19 September 1831
birth_place=Yorkshire ENG
death_date=death date and age|1903|2|8|1831|9|19
death_place=Canterbury, NZL
spouse=Elizabeth Mary Brittain (married 1865), nine children.
party=
constituency=Avon, later Geraldine, Halswell
religion=
profession=farmer

William Rolleston (September 19, 1831 - February 8, 1903) was a New Zealand politician, public administrator, educationalist and Canterbury provincial superintendent (politics).

Early life

Rolleston was born at Maltby, Yorkshire as the 9th child of the Rev. George Rolleston and Anne Nettleship. He attended Rossall School and Emmanuel College. He graduated from here in 1855 with second class honours in classical tripos. He had intended to move to Canterbury but his father advised against it so he took up tutoring. However, this was merely a means of raising enough money to leave England in order to reject 'Conservatives and Ecclesiastics'.

Political career

Rolleston served as Minister of Justice in the government of Premier John Hall from December 1880 to April 1881. He was also appointed Minister of Native Affairs in January 1881 after the resignation of John Bryce, heading the department as the Government prepared to invade the Māori settlement of Parihaka in November. Rolleston stood aside as minister on the night of October 19, 1881 after the Hall government's Executive Council held an emergency meeting in the absence of Governor Sir Arthur Gordon to issue a proclamation against Māori prophet Te Whiti and the inhabitants of Parihaka, ordering them leave Parihaka and accept the sale and dismemberment of their land or face "the great evil which must fall on them". [http://www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz/scripts/reports/reports/143/873CF3DD-F852-4150-B5AE-A87072C09A11.pdf The Taranaki Report: Kaupapa Tuatahi by the Waitangi Tribunal, chapter 8.] ] He was replaced as minister by his predecessor, John Bryce, who three weeks later led a raid by 1600 Armed Constabulary on the settlement, the centre of a passive resistance campaign against the sale of Māori land.

Later life

He married Elizabeth Mary Brittain in 1865 at Avonside, Christchurch. They had five sons and four daughters. Rolleston died at his Rangitata farm at Kapunatiki, on February 8, 1903.

References

External links

* [http://www.dnzb.govt.nz Gardner, W. J. "Rolleston, William 1831 - 1903". "Dictionary of New Zealand Biography", updated 7 July 2005]
* [http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/R/RollestonWilliam/RollestonWilliam/en Biography in the 1966 "Encyclopaedia of New Zealand"]